KARACHI: Former Pakistan football team skipper Essa Khan has praised Leisure Leagues Pakistan (LLP) for making it possible for Pakistan to have its presence in upcoming small-sided Socca Football World Cup, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal from September 23.
Essa Khan visited Pakistan’s socca football team training in Lahore and observed players during the training session and gave tips. He also motivated them to prepare well because they will not only be playing in a World Cup would have a great responsibility of representing beloved Pakistan in the international arena.
“It’s a great and exciting experience to play in an international tournament but when you wear national colors, the responsibility of representing one’s country is also high. Players should behave well in and off the field as well and play with sportsman spirit. Always remember abroad that you are ambassadors of Pakistan and not individuals,” he advised.
Pakistan has been placed in Group ‘B’ along with Spain and Russia. The fourth team in the group is Moldova. A total of 32 teams from across the globe will be seen in action during the tournament.
The 32 teams have been divided into eight groups of four teams each. After playing matches against one another in the group, two top teams from each group will qualify for last-16 knockout round. From here, teams would progress to quarterfinals, semifinals and eventually final, which will be played on September 29.
He further said that it has been a huge achievement for Pakistan football that it will now be represented in an inaugural edition of an event, which has been dubbed as Socca World Cup.
He added that participation of Pakistan will induce attention of youngsters in the game of football in the country and hoped that with Leisure Leagues activities gaining momentum, more and more young players will opt for healthy football activities.
Essa, who is the assistant coach of Pakistan national team gearing up to feature in upcoming Asian Games, wished the team best of luck and added that he would again visit the training camp soon.
Pakistan Socca Football Squad:
Afaq Ahmed, Hafiz Muhammad Waleed, Umer Javeed, Haider Ali, Saad Ali Khan, Zaid Mehmood, Aamir Iqbal Gondal, Abdul Hanan Javad, Zabi Ullah Warraich, Muhammad Zubair Adil (Lahore), Muhammad Alamgir (Peshawar), Muhammad Kashif (Quetta), Zafar Khan (Karachi), Sameer Ahmed. Tariq Lutfi (Coach).
